Though Series Is Over,

`Star Trek' To Live On

Trekkies, `Q' Character's Actor Unite At Festival

WEST PALM BEACH — John DeLancie, the naughty, omnipotent Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation, wowed his audience at a Star Trek Festival at the Omni Hotel on Saturday.

He did not transform anyone into a reptile or plunge them into the underworld, but he did charm the fans with a combination of wit and backstage gossip.

Alas, his fans will have only one more chance to see Q torment the noble and long-suffering Capt. Picard. "I shot the last show. Star Trek the Next Generation is no more," DeLancie said.

The last episode of the series, a two-hour finale, will be seen locally May 27 on Channel 6 and May 29 on Channel 29, one of the festival's organizers said.

DeLancie said the last day of series production was not an emotional experience for the actors, possibly because they had already started work on the upcoming film Star Trek: Generations.

The movie, scheduled for release the day before Thanksgiving, will feature the first encounter between two generations of Starship Enterprise captains, William Shatner's James T. Kirk and Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard.

The old guard will also be represented by James Doohan as Cmdr. Montgomery Scott (Scotty) and by Walter Koenig as Lt. Chekov.

Malcolm McDowell will do the villain honors as a mad alien scientist.

"I'm disappointed The Next Generation is ending," said Angela Taylor, 42, of Boca Raton, who was sporting USS Enterprise earrings and a "communicator" pin.

Taylor said she liked Picard better than Kirk.

"Kirk was kind of a space stud. He went after all the females, whether they were human or not," said Taylor.

"Picard has more respect for women."

Those who can't get enough of Star Trek will have to make do with reruns until January 1995. That's when the new Paramount television network is planning to begin the next Star Trek saga. It's called Star Trek Voyagers, and will feature the action-packed adventures of a group of Star Fleet officers in a small warship flung to the uttermost ends of the galaxy by a cosmic accident.